The Record Collector, Los Angeles

[number_six]

I very seldom find myself in my old LA haunts, but happened to be on Highland yesterday and thought say, isn't that where The Record Collector used to be. I probably have not been in the store since the very early 90s.

I remember a tweedy gentleman coming in and cheerfully telling the grumpy shopkeeper "I've come to buy some of your overpriced records."

So when I got home I looked on the internet to see if the store still existed (apparently it does, on Melrose now). The yelp reviews made spellbinding reading. Over time a person often becomes a more exaggerated version of his or her earlier self, and it sounds like that's what happened here.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-record-collector-los-angeles

[music lover]

Have not read the Yelp review, but if he is characterized as anything but a misanthropic bully, they've failed prospective clients. A vast library of 78's sits out of sight far in the back. And he can make them sound pretty good on his vintage console. But the paranoid, conspiracy driven personality is not fit for public consumption. Creepy is a word which comes to mind. But he has a pretty high regard for himself.
Craig

[John Wiser]

"music lover" <chol...@gmail.com> wrote:

>... the paranoid, conspiracy driven personality is not fit for public consumption.

> Creepy is a word which comes to mind. But he has a pretty high regard for himself.

Sounds like your run-of-the-mill right winger to me. Surely with so many of those
in common circulation, we should make an effort to accommodate ourselves
to the style? Especially if we want them to sell us something? My alternate hypothesis is
that a few visits from M. B. Tepper could push any shopkeeper over the brink.

jdw

[Andrew Clarke]

C.f.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDCZmuo8Ws4

Andrew Clarke
Canberra

[number_six]

Pretty funny. I had not heard of this show. It is a very good parallel -- he verbally assails the customers, even to the point of physically shooing them out of the store. Reliance on assistant, also. In the show, it's for comedy; in real life, a clinical disorder is likely at work.

I wonder if the late Jeffrey Powell ever went into the Record Collector. If someday we develop time travel tourism, such an encounter would be a sight to behold.

[Bob Harper]

John, have you *ANY* knowledge of the owner's politics, or are you just
being your usual reflexively judgmental self? The latter, I'd bet. The
guy sounds like a jerk, but those come in all sorts of political livery.

Bob Harper

[John Wiser]

"Bob Harper" <bob.h...@comcast.net> wrote in message news:ftR3x.24622$yw3....@fx29.iad...

Not judgmental but suppositious, intended to prod any RWNC who wishes
to fit the shoe. Thank you for a most satisfactory po-faced response.

jdw

[Oscar]

Shelly, the owner of The Record Collector, can do what he wants and he doesn't give a toss if you like it or not. He owns the building on Melrose. Go to alley in back: all the parking spaces are exclusive to customers of his store.

Also, Shelly has a JBL Paragon at the front of the store -- one of only 1000 made -- but his regular speakers are JBL Hartsfields. Both the Paragon and Hartsfields are in A+ condition (the Paragon is worth at least $20,000 in that condition) and are amazing to look at. What other record store can you preview records on such antique units? NOWHERE! That said, yes, he's a schmuck.

[Bob Harper]

In other words, you have no knowledge, but just presumed. Figures.

IOW, BS--which properly characterizes most of what you have to say on
non-musical subjects.

Bob Harper

[Bob Harper]

Wow, a Paragon!@ I've only sen one before, at the home of a collector in
Flagstaff some 40+ years ago.

Bob Harper

[Herman]

On Sunday, May 10, 2015 at 6:24:34 PM UTC+2, number_six wrote:


> Pretty funny. I had not heard of this show.

neither had I.

[music lover]

Didn't inquire at the time about the monster console that could draw great sound out of 78's. But the oppressiveness and sheer unpleasantness has made me never return. The word contempt for any music medium since vinyl doesn't begin to characterize the anger. He also has the ridiculous habit of never handling discs on the side but rather putting his fingers all over the playing surface. A real putz....

[R. Edwards]

On Sunday, May 10, 2015 at 9:31:10 PM UTC-4, Oscar wrote:
> Shelly, the owner of The Record Collector, can do what he wants and he doesn't give a toss if you like it or not. He owns the building on Melrose. Go to alley in back: all the parking spaces are exclusive to customers of his store.
>
> Also, Shelly has a JBL Paragon at the front of the store -- one of only 1000 made -- but his regular speakers are JBL Hartsfields. Both the Paragon and Hartsfields are in A+ condition (the Paragon is worth at least $20,000 in that condition) and are amazing to look at. What other record store can you preview records on such antique units? NOWHERE! That said, yes, he's a schmuck.

Shelly? What happened to Sanders Chase who owned the store for so many years? Did he sell it?

[richard...@gmail.com]

very annoying that it is blocked in the UK for copyright reasons.

[Andrew Clarke]

"Black Books" series 1 no 1, available on DVD from Amazon UK and no doubt elsewhere. This first episode is magic: almost perfect.

A gentleman of wit and letters in the Anthony Powell mailing list has pointed out that "Black Books" was filmed in a real bookshop in London: Collinge & Clark, of 13 Leigh Street, Bloomsbury. See it on Google Earth.

Andrew Clarke
Canberra

[Herman]

On Monday, May 11, 2015 at 3:00:47 PM UTC+2, Andrew Clarke wrote:
> On Monday, May 11, 2015 at 6:35:34 PM UTC+10, richard...@gmail.com wrote:
> > On Saturday, May 9, 2015 at 5:22:55 PM UTC-4, Andrew Clarke wrote:
> > > On Sunday, May 10, 2015 at 1:49:18 AM UTC+10, number_six wrote:
> > > > I very seldom find myself in my old LA haunts, but happened to be on Highland yesterday and thought say, isn't that where The Record Collector used to be. I probably have not been in the store since the very early 90s.
> > > >
> > > > I remember a tweedy gentleman coming in and cheerfully telling the grumpy shopkeeper "I've come to buy some of your overpriced records."
> > > >
> > > > So when I got home I looked on the internet to see if the store still existed (apparently it does, on Melrose now). The yelp reviews made spellbinding reading. Over time a person often becomes a more exaggerated version of his or her earlier self, and it sounds like that's what happened here.
> > > >
> > > > http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-record-collector-los-angeles
> > >
> > > C.f.
> > >
> > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDCZmuo8Ws4
> > >
> > > Andrew Clarke
> > > Canberra
> >
> > very annoying that it is blocked in the UK for copyright reasons.
>
> "Black Books" series 1 no 1, available on DVD from Amazon UK and no doubt elsewhere. This first episode is magic: almost perfect.
>

The Grapes of Wrath one is funny too, though some may expect a somewhat faster pace.

[Oscar]

On Sunday, May 10, 2015 at 11:50:52 PM, R. Edwards wrote:
> >
> > Also, Shelly has a JBL Paragon at the front of the store -- one of only 1000 made -- but his
> > regular speakers are JBL Hartsfields. Both the Paragon and Hartsfields are in A+ condition (the
> > Paragon is worth at least $20,000 in that condition) and are amazing to look at. What other record
> > store can you preview records on such antique units? NOWHERE! That said, yes, he's a schmuck.
>
> Shelly? What happened to Sanders Chase who owned the store for so many years? Did he sell it?

You are correct. His name is Sandy, not Shelly.

[R. Edwards]

When I worked for Tower I remember visiting The Record Collector several times in the mid to late 1980s when it was on Highland. There was usually no one else in the store except Sandy and his rather strange assistant. He knew who I worked for and always railed on about how Tower helped kill the LP. I occasionally bought an LP it it wasn't to overpriced, but my best find was two mint 78 rpm 10" acoustic Polydors of Heinrich Schlusnus which I found on a high shelf in one of his back rooms. He priced them at $15 each which I gladly paid. I always wondered how he stayed in business with his brusque manner and high prices for relatively common LPs.

Another quirky LA dealer that I visited was Music Man Murray when he still had a storefront on Hollywood Blvd (IIRC). At the time I was looking for a nice copy for Mengleberg's 78 Columbia recording of Les Preludes. He had two copies on the shelf, one priced and another in better condition, unpriced. He wouldn't sell me the unpriced set because he "didn't know what it was worth" When I asked who else would be able to price it, he just turned away and ignored me.

[music lover]

A mild irony is that directly next door to Record Collector was one of the largest used record stores in LA. Aron's sold all media. Maybe not the cleanest but every genre was available.

The Record Collector owner alluded to the fact that he lived at home. Nothing wrong with that but sounded like his Family subsidized the business. Had a lot of anger for University of Southern California. Thought he had some sort of agreement whereby they would purchase his collection but they reneged. Who in their right mind would do business with this guy? Have not been there since before 9/11

[Tony]

I love this show. The only problem is that whenever someone brings it up, I feel compelled to rewatch all three seasons. Dylan Moran is a great standup comic too -- worth watching Monster where he seems pretty drunk and is clearly enjoying himself throughout.

[mrfi...@gmail.com]

On Sunday, May 10, 2015 at 6:31:10 PM UTC-7, Oscar wrote:
> Shelly, the owner of The Record Collector, can do what he wants and he doesn't give a toss if you like it or not. He owns the building on Melrose. Go to alley in back: all the parking spaces are exclusive to customers of his store.
>
> Also, Shelly has a JBL Paragon at the front of the store -- one of only 1000 made -- but his regular speakers are JBL Hartsfields. Both the Paragon and Hartsfields are in A+ condition (the Paragon is worth at least $20,000 in that condition) and are amazing to look at. What other record store can you preview records on such antique units? NOWHERE! That said, yes, he's a schmuck.

That's about right, both sides of it. He owns a lot of stuff, and will tell you about it given half a chance (and I do mean half). He also has an extraordinary number of records and knows where they all are. Well worth a visit if you love LPs, even though he's almost certain to piss you off.

SE.

[abras...@gmail.com]

+1

[John Wiser]

<abras...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:a7467512-e6f9-407c...@googlegroups.com...

> +1
>

Thank you for not taking umbrage at my post.
It is possible of course that the hapless Harper
left none for you to take.

jdw.

[Bob Harper]

Umbrage? No, John, rather it was a chuckle with respect to your
confusion of categories. 'paranoid, conspiracy driven personality',
'high regard for himself'? Sounds like you're describing yourself.

Bob Harper